The Studio Log - What Did You Do In The Studio

[mjolnir]

Today I decided that I have got to delete ALL of the junky presets on my entire computer and start stockpiling only the best sounds.
Even if I end up with a very small palette of sounds, it will still be better than endless junky presets. I will also continue developing more of my own sounds.

I realised that with the fast WAV / preset browsing interface of LMMS and it's quick quantizing, I get work done faster and better. So, if I clean up my whole computer and rearrange it to make LMMS the most powerful, then I'll be in a much better position. Consider it the poor man's FL Studio, but it's workable. Also, I'll still use REAPER for mixdowns so I can do precise EQ and compression and some nice crossfade edits and stuff.

[mjolnir]

it's not much, but i edited the tags on my SoundCloud page to be more inclusive and responsive to their search engine.
i literally replayed each tune and tried to think of as many matching tags as possible for each one.
it worked out okay i guess.

[Constructed Identity]

I did the finishing up of a track I made with the new Behringer Edge. I had found a sequence I really liked and so recorded it through Lust V.2 delay petal, then after I noticed the left side was higher than the right, decided to re-record the exact same sequence with the cables reversed. The second time I also increased the decay length to make it distinctly different. So the heart of the track are two recordings of a Behringer Edge panned over left and right. I haven’t heard anything like it before so it is going to be uploaded onto Bandcamp with the next album.
I was reading about Hawaii’s completely changed forests so I decided to call the track “Novel Ecosystem”

[mjolnir]

I didn't do much today, but I spent a long time fixing a partially malformed archive of a functional softsynth. I was able to fix the corrupted filenames and create the needed folders and permissions and put the items where they each belonged. It made me really happy because now I'm getting good sound quality from a new synth in my collection and the user interface is exactly what I needed for an improved workflow. After I got done, I backed up my DAW to external drive, contacted the manufacturer so they can fix the malformed archive so others will be able to download and be running.
It made me feel pretty good to fix something and have something leftover to remind me of the success.

[ROTMetro]

Not really the place for it by I need to share and celebrate I had 9 downloads on Bandcamp. As someone who never received support from the people around me (other than my dad) on my music this is huge for me. I've never been comfortable sharing my music, and historically always got shutdown on it when I did with some variation of 'why are you so weird, you seen normal'. It's been schizophrenic having something be such a core part of me yet something I just hid or got told to stop doing or made people think differently of me and that I'm weird. I started sharing my music in spite of this, not because I thought it was worth sharing but because people said that the process would help me push myself to be better. And it has so much (even though it's super uncomfortable). But to have some people grab my tracks is huge and wild for me. And helps counter that when I shared what I had put online those around me again called me weird.

[justin3am]

Not really the place for it by I need to share and celebrate I had 9 downloads on Bandcamp. As someone who never received support from the people around me (other than my dad) on my music this is huge for me. I've never been comfortable sharing my music, and historically always got shutdown on it when I did with some variation of 'why are you so weird, you seen normal'. It's been schizophrenic having something be such a core part of me yet something I just hid or got told to stop doing or made people think differently of me and that I'm weird. I started sharing my music in spite of this, not because I thought it was worth sharing but because people said that the process would help me push myself to be better. And it has so much (even though it's super uncomfortable). But to have some people grab my tracks is huge and wild for me. And helps counter that when I shared what I had put online those around me again called me weird.

I can relate! I've always had interest in music but was never really encouraged to pursue musical endeavors. Even when I was making a living working at a commercial studio, most people in my life dismissed it as something that wouldn't last.
I remember the first time I posted music here, almost 20 years ago now, I was so elated that anyone would listen to something I made. I tried to play it cool, lol. It took years before I found friends who shared my interest in making music, but the more I was able to interact with people who had the same enthusiasm, the more confident I became that I was on the right path.

Keep going!

[foosnark]

I have a plan for the next album though... game rules, almost.

1. Album title must start with E, and the first and last notes of the album must be E.
2. Tracks will be recorded in the order they'll appear on the album, and transition smoothly from one into the next.
3. Odd-numbered tracks: my only sound source will be bass guitar, processed and layered however I like.
4. Even-numbered tracks: begin with DecadeBridge Sn, end with Arturia Easel V. Anything else in between is fair game.

To #4 I added "the middle must use a VCV Rack patch featuring Synthesis Technology modules," because I'm dedicating the album to a couple of acquaintances who inspired me (and a lot of other people), who recently passed:

Jonathan Stearne, a professor who's written or edited several books. But I just knew him as JES on a couple of forums, a bass and touch guitar player who was exploring modular synthesis in the past couple of years, thoughtful and kind and quietly funny. His posts were a large part of why I decided to get myself a MüB Miezo.

Paul Schreiber, aka paults, electrical engineer, designer of the Realistic/Moog MG-1, designer of the MOTM format and the founder of Synthesis Technology. A collector of pinball machines and a great storyteller. I knew him from forums, but also met him at KnobCon a couple of times and beta tested a couple of his modules.

Anyway... album is moving along, with about 28 minutes recorded so far. It's been kind of odd for me -- for all that people say that creative restrictions are helpful, I'm finding them to be obstacles. It's an interesting challenge but when your muse is saying one thing and the rules say something else, I don't like telling the muse no. Also, the process of those "everything is bass" tracks involves a lot more assembly than what I usually do; I don't have that much feel for where the track is going in terms of overall sound and form until it's almost done. The results are not bad at all, but I want to go back to just freeform whatever.

[whyterabbyt]

moved stuff around. again. in an attempt to overcome an increasing lack of desk space. again.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Brought my GR55 out to play. Spent ages sweating over one string that wasn’t getting picked up then realised the lead plug wasn’t fully in the socket. Didn’t occur to me it was literally one pin per string, but it makes sense. Playing with layered Serum 2 patches and it all sounded massive.

[Constructed Identity]

moved stuff around. again. in an attempt to overcome an increasing lack of desk space. again.

You can always remove stuff you aren't using. I'm starting to have a pile in the corner of a closet.
Right now I am attempting to make a logo type thing in Photoshop. Something sort of simple, but it's not for me because I haven't used Photoshop in so long.

[whyterabbyt]

moved stuff around. again. in an attempt to overcome an increasing lack of desk space. again.

You can always remove stuff you aren't using. I'm starting to have a pile in the corner of a closet.

Thing is im trying to make sure I can use it. The stuff that wasnt immediately at hand was the stuff not getting used.

This time round, I (rather drastically, IMO) removed my ProjectMix ( mixing-desk style motor-fader control surface). So I now have two such devices n the corner, as Ive got a JLCooper MCS 3800 as well.
So I need to see if Im happy without some sort of controller for the DAW in the long term, or need to find a smaller alternative. A FaderPort might do, but I did like having a jog wheel.

(I should point out I do have some deskspace that's kept 'empty' for on-the-fly use of eg stuff that isnt in a full-time location, but that's a different sort of gear and usage, really. If its got usb and or midi (or lots of CV), and audio, and power cables, then I'd want it somewhere fixed, plumbed in all the time.
That space is also the only place my ReMote 61 keyboard would fit, assuming I ever want to use it.

The best fix would probably be moving everything ie starting from scratch, replacing all the desks etc, but that's not really tenable.

[Constructed Identity]

Out of site out of mind is true. I’ve been thinking of installing a shelf above my synth rack to put occasional use things. Pictures of vurt’s set up gave me the idea.

[mjolnir]

I'm still whittling down my software synth collection (freeware, demos). I'm finally down to a smaller number of synths that I can actually recognize and remember. Next step is to create subfolders in REAPER for track presets of my favorite instruments, hopefully in useful combos. I'm hoping to really excell at combining synths instead of using them one at a time. Mixes sound thicker that way as long as it doesn't get out of control.

Here's what my Instruments list finally looks like:
Admittedly, there's a few duplicates in there to get fixed soon:



On the other hand, I'm getting closer to making a decision about buying some DAWless hardware so I start recording a buddy of mine who plays guitar (maybe) or at least construct my tunes differently. I was about to buy FL Studio until I realised that unless I buy the highest level, I can't do everything I prefer to; and that ain't happening. In the meantime, I get almost identical step editing from LMMS (freeware).

Still, I feel like i'm stagnating. I have strong ideas but can't seem to sit still long enough to record my mental ideas. In contrast, I notice rappers and beatboxers and guitarists jamm fluently while overdubbing and punching in. I need a workflow more like that built on top of quick step edits.

It's frustrating to be thinking so much about tunes and not really getting anywhere yet.
I probably need to be working on a standalone sampling workstation instead of at a computer where my ideas float away so fast due to distractions.

On the plus side, every time I remix my old tunes, they really come forward much better.
And so I will be doing that for sure. It's not as hard as coming up with brand new tunes.

UPDATE:

I just purchased MuLab 10 and I'm really liking it.
My ideas are flowing much more easily, especially with the simplified MIDI quantizing.
I am able to jamm my ideas in faster before I forget them, unlike with REAPER where too many contextual menus snafu me. I put a few temporary works in progress up on my SoundCloud page. They aren't done at all, and are just very raw jams until I get some multitracks happening, finessed, edited, overdubbed, and mixed.
I'm really feeling that I made the right choice to advance myself with MuLab.
It kinda feels like a more modern EnergyXT and modern LMMS combined. The included presets are a better match for my styles though. I highly recommend this kit to anybody seeking to make electro industrial.

[mjolnir]

I completed 2 tunes and deleted about 6 premixes.
I'm gonna take a rest for a while.

Again, here is one of my better ones, done today: https://soundcloud.com/909-compact-flash/clean-breakage
This represents the style I'm going for.

I grew up on Front 242 and Nine Inch Nails and Skinny Puppy and Meat Beat Manifesto.
So hopefully, this kind of sound is relatable.

Peace.

[justin3am]

Nice!